'A dangerous thing': Rassie Erasmus issues sombre warning over Razor axing

New Zealand Rugby may have drawn a veil of silence over the Scott Robertson axing and the subsequent recruitment process, but the questions and opinions are a dime a dozen.

It was mid-January when NZ Rugby revealed that Robertson has departed his role as All Black coach, following the completion of the 2025 end-of-season review.

The process to recruit a new coach is already underway.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, in what was meant to be South African team debrief, was confronted with numerous reports of the supposed role of ‘player power’ in the axing of the Kiwi coach, known affectionately as Razor.

The Bok coach, Erasmus, made it clear he is not in the habit of commenting on the cultures of other countries and teams.

Erasmus admitted the weight of expectations on an All Black team will make the coaching job that much more challenging.

“I was surprised,” he said of the big announcement in mid-January, adding: “If we get to know the real reasons, we may not be so surprised.”

Asked about the reports of ‘player power’ being at the heart of the outcome of the review process, the Bok coach admitted he was once part of a team with big personalities and powerful opinions in his playing days.

However, he did an impressive tap dance by saying in his playing days they sometimes gave their opinions at inopportune times.

“Players can definitely not tell you what they want and how they want to win if they don’t know how much work the coaching staff are putting in,” he said about dealing with players’ perceptions and sentiments.

“In some cases player power is a dangerous thing, especially if people doesn’t fully understand and a player aires his opinion.

“If the process is 100 percent right and in place, players can have opinions,” Erasmus said at Springbok headquarters in the Plattekloof suburb of Cape Town.

“I’m not saying there was an issue [in the All Black camp], but player power can be a problem.

“You also can’t make decisions without the players’ input and they can assist you to create the right environment.”

Erasmus added that he is not about to change his habit of not commenting on issues in opposing camps, especially not their arch rivals New Zealand, whom they will meet four times this year in the Greatest Rivalry series.

“It is a unique situation and doesn’t happen often in New Zealand,” he said of the axing of Robertson.

He pointed to the Springbok drama when he took over in 2018, after South Africa dropped to No.6 in the world rankings.

“Things can change dramatically in a year and back in 2018 we just wanted to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand,” he said of a Bok team that went on to win the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

“Just like this you can get it back again and I am pretty sure the All Blacks will be back.”

NZ Rugby, in a statement, said the new All Black coach must be a ‘New Zealand coach with international head coaching experience’.

The All Blacks are set to play the first Test match of 2026 against France on July 4 in Christchurch.